Plug connectors which have a short circuiting bridge in order to signal the plugging together of the plug connector with a mating connector are known in the art. Such known plug connectors are of two types: there are plug connectors with short circuiting bridges which are attached in a fixed and secure fashion in the plug connector and there are plug connectors with short circuiting bridges which are flexible and extend out of the plug connector.
A flexible short-circuiting bridge is used to detect plugging together with the mating connector by moving the short-circuiting bridge away from an electrical contact of the plug connector during plugging, thereby interrupting a generated short circuit during plugging. Alternatively, for a short circuiting bridge disposed in each of the plug connector and the mating connector, the short circuiting bridge generates the short circuit after the plug connector is plugged together with the mating connector. In known short circuiting bridges having flexible contact arms which move away from the electrical contact, a defect of the contact arm or clamping of the contact arm can cause the short circuiting bridge to interrupt the short circuit and incorrectly indicate a correct plugging together of the plug connector and the mating connector. The alternative generation of a short circuit during the plugging together overcomes this potential issue.
For a short circuiting bridge disposed in each of the plug connector and the mating connector, the short circuiting bridge is movably arranged in the plug connector. The short circuiting bridge moves within the plug connector over a distance which is larger than the plug in depth of a short circuiting contact into a complementary short circuiting receptacle of the short circuiting bridge. In certain fields of technology, such as during use in motor vehicles or in forming electrical connections in compressors, a plug connection between the plug connector and the mating connector can be subject to strong vibrations. The short circuiting bridge must be able to signal a correctly plugged together state of the plug connector and the mating connector even if the plug connection is subject to strong vibrations.
Generally, when there is heavy vibration loading, a significant relative movement occurs between the contact faces of the known short circuiting bridge and the complementary short circuiting contacts. Movement of the plug connector relative to the mating connector can lead, given a corresponding vibration loading, to contacts of the short circuiting bridge being abraded away or fractured, impairing detection of the correctly plugged together state.